Rudd talked tough on China to Hillary Clinton in Wikileak's cable

Updated
December 06, 2010 10:20:00

A US cable has been released detailing the conversation Hillary Clinton and Kevin Rudd had in march last year when they met in Wahsington. Mr Rudd says western countries should consider dealing with China in military if it oversteps its boundaries.

TONY EASTLEY: For a while it looked like the huge pile of WikiLeak cables released yesterday didn't give Australia much of a mention. But there, in amongst reams of material, particularly American cables, is information touching on Australian diplomacy which goes to the heart of two of the country's most important relationships.

The cable, released in The Guardian newspaper, is the United States account of a conversation between the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton and the then prime minister, Kevin Rudd, during a visit to Washington in March last year.

Chief political correspondent, Lyndal Curtis, reports.

LYNDAL CURTIS: Up until yesterday, of the hundreds of cables released by Wikileaks, Australia had only been mentioned in passing. Now a US cable has been released detailing the conversation Hillary Clinton and Kevin Rudd had in March last year when they met in Washington.

HILLARY CLINTON: And we have reaffirmed our commitment to working closely on the range of difficult problems but also exciting opportunities that lie ahead.

LYNDAL CURTIS: The problems and opportunities concentrated on China, according to the cable. Hillary Clinton affirmed the US desire for a successful China but noted challenges posed by the Asian giant's economic rise, she asked the question of Mr Rudd,"how to you deal toughly with your banker?".

The cable says Mr Rudd described himself as a brutal realist on China and called for multilateral engagement with bilateral vigour - integrating China into the international community while preparing to deploy force if everything went wrong.

He said Australia's intelligence community kept a close eye on China's military modernisation and he told Mrs Clinton that the focus on naval capability in the defence white paper, released just weeks after their meeting, was a response to China's growing ability to project force.

Andrew Shearer from the Lowy Institute says the document provides a window into a strategy Australia's been quietly pursuing towards China.

ANDREW SHEARER: That is what you might call a hedging strategy. So on the one hand we are trying to engage China and benefit from strong economic ties with China but on the other hand we are also increasingly nervous about China's military modernisation and where China is going with that and therefore we are building up our military and strengthening our alliances and generally preparing for a rainy day.

LYNDAL CURTIS: Ron Huisken from the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at the Australian National University says the core message that Australia needs to be ready to dissuade China when it behaves in ways that aren't appropriate did come through in the defence white paper.

RON HUISKEN: The basic method which was a profound concern that a strong, authoritarian China could prove to be a very awkward customer for Australian interests came through loud and clear.

LYNDAL CURTIS: The cable says Mr Rudd also offered comment on the Chinese leadership saying they were paranoid about Tibet and Taiwan and sub-rational and deeply emotional about Taiwan. He also described the current president Hu Jintao as no Jiang Zemin - Mr Hu's predecessor.

Andrew Shearer says those comments are surprising.

ANDREW SHEARER: I suppose it is a little bit surprising to hear our Foreign Minister dishing the president of our largest trading partner to our largest ally. It is pretty blunt language about Hu Jintao.